Column 8

"I know you don't normally do lost and found," acknowledges Paul Duncan of Leura, "but recently I found a silver brooch or clasp in the street, 65 mm across with the letters SVH in blue enamel and engraved 'Maree Kearns 24/3/65 '. Perhaps one of your well-connected readers may know of her or her family so it could be returned." Paul's right, we don't do it very often, but after the successful return of Roy and Sue Belshaw's lost wedding ring last year, discovered by reader Bruce Delprado in the Snowy Mountains after 40 years in the wilderness (Column 8, April 29) we can't resist trying for another magical reunion.

During the not-so-wild celebrations of Column 8's 69th birthday on Monday, we were reminded by a colleague of the claim (which we have heard more than once) that we are the longest continually running column in any English language newspaper, but have had trouble confirming this. It would be a fine feather in our cap if it were true – can anyone help us find out?

"If 'spelt' is spelled 'spelled'," asks Randi Svensen, of Leura (Column 8, Monday), "what does the Herald style manual dictate for the spelling of the plural of 'roof'? And I wonder how many Australians who are so anti-American spelling realise that in the first half of the 20th century, Sydney Harbour was spelled in the Herald as 'Sydney Harbor'?" We go with "roofs", though "rooves", while still acceptable, is considered archaic. And we didn't know about our "Sydney Harbor"spelling. To return the compliment, did you know that the Herald changes the name of Hawaii's "Pearl Harbor" to "Pearl Harbour", even though it never appears that way on a map? Funny old world, eh?

"It is a near certainty that the 'accurate' figure of 51.58 per cent identified in the jobs at risk from computerisation report, referred to by Norm Philbeam, is itself the result of computerisation," asserts Michael Honey, of Wentworth Falls (Column 8, Monday). "Perhaps we should be contemplating how many jobs were lost as a consequence of arriving at this figure, rather than over-analysing the process – something actually cautioned against by the report's author." John Gibbs, of Surfers Paradise, is not surprised at the precision of the number given, adding that "it is a well-known fact that 78.24 per cent of all statistics quoted are made up on the spot."